THE Big Hit.....

....finally, I can let my breath out. My middle son, Dustin has had a long, dry spell getting himself walked every time he's up to bat. He had a couple hits in the beginning of the season, but then just froze up every time he was up to bat. I noticed this happened shortly after a player got hit really hard in the back as he swung. We must have had 25 games or more, including the 5 day tournament. We offered incentives, endless pep-talks and private talks with the coach. He would hit it during practice, but not during the game. Too much pressure, perhaps? We tried to keep quiet during the game, only offering cheers, then zipping it when he was actually ready to swing. Then, to our relief, during the second to the last game he SWUNG!  We didn't care that it didn't connect - it was, well - the mark of the end of his frozen state. We saw a sparkle in his eye that afternoon when he came home in between games and ran out back to hit some more. His dad threw some more to him and he saw that he really could do it. We returned for the final game of the tournament, the one that would determine first or second place for the season and they were up against the Brewers -a team stacked with last year's all-star players. We wondered, would he follow through with a swing or revert to his "walk-me" phase? We got the video camera ready, fingers clenched, held our breath and he swung away! He connected twice with two fouls, but then, "PINK!"  a base hit!YAAAAAAY!! What a way to end the season!  Although the Brewers ended the game in the 4th inning with all their runs, Dustin got a game ball for his excellent outfield performance and a medal for 2nd and we (Chris and I) got the biggest prize of all...the reward of watching the transformation of a boy who likes baseball to a boy who claims it as his own.